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Storms That Hit

NHC AL031961 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Carla (1961)

September 3, 1961 – September 18, 1961

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

Hurricane Carla peaked at Category 4 with 144 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 603 US cities, 69 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Carla in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Carla for 15 days, from September 3, 1961 to September 18, 1961. Its first position, at 12.5°N 77.0°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 68.0°N 54.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 4, hurricane strength on September 6 and major-hurricane strength on September 8. Its peak was 144 mph (125 knots), Category 4, on September 11, and its lowest central pressure was 927 millibars on September 11. It spent about 6 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 11 at 144 mph (Category 4), 20 miles from Seadrift, TX. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 603 US cities, in 5 states, most in Texas (333) and Oklahoma (142), between September 11 and September 13. The strongest pass was 144 mph (Category 4) 51 miles from Port Aransas, TX; the centre came closest to Jarrell, TX, less than a mile away. 69 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 20 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 83% of the 737 storms on this site, and ranks 2nd of the 4 storms of 1961 here.

Peak strength
Category 4

144 mph

Cities within 75 mi
603
At hurricane strength
69

when closest

States
5
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Cities Carla passed near, strongest first

Texas (333)

and 273 more

Oklahoma (142)

and 82 more

Missouri (65)

and 5 more

Arkansas (61)

and 1 more

Kansas (2)

Other storms of the 1961 season

All hurricanes and tropical storms →

About this record

The track is the National Hurricane Center's best-track record, revised after the season with every observation available. Strength at a city is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, not the wind that city measured.